IBO’s 2011 list of the top 30 analytical and laboratory instrument and product companies illustrates the results of growing consolidation within the analytical and life science instrument industry. Agilent Technologies, Danaher, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Merck KGaA have each made major acquisitions in recent years, growing their sales and rankings.

Despite concerns over the European debt crisis and government-related spending in the US and Europe, most leading instrument and lab product companies sustained revenue growth and expanded market share in calendar-year (CY) 2011. Larger companies benefited from consolidation as well as higher demand from industrial, applied and biotechnology markets, especially in emerging territories. As a result, 17 of IBO’s top 30 analytical and life science instrument and product companies for CY 2011 recorded double-digit revenue growth. Total CY 2011 analytical and life science instruments and aftermarket sales for the top 30 companies increased 12.3% to $33.4 billion to account for approximately 77% of the total analytical instrument market (see IBO 1/15/12).

IBO’s calculations of the top 30 companies and their rankings are based on the companies’ analytical and life science instrument and related aftermarket sales in US currency for CY 2011. For each company, only sales of instruments and aftermarket products that fall into one of 10 technology categories, as defined by IBO’s annual forecast issue (see IBO 1/15/12), are counted. Revenue growth rates for international companies are based on constant exchange rates when converted into US dollars. Given the lower valuation of the US dollar in CY 2011 to the Swiss franc and the yen, the conversion may have boosted sales values compared with previous years.

The sales growth for each company in the list also includes updated estimates of CY 2010 instrument and aftermarket sales. The companies whose rankings were affected by revised CY 2010 sales estimates were Beckman Coulter, PerkinElmer, QIAGEN and Thermo.

In CY 2011, each of the top 12 analytical and life science instrument companies recorded revenues of more than $1 billion, including over $2 billion in sales each for Thermo, Agilent, Life Technologies and Danaher. However, Thermo clearly stands atop the leaderboard due to updated information and the recalculations of the company’s analytical and life science instrument and aftermarket sales. Thermo’s acquisitions, new products and investments in emerging markets have helped establish the company’s premier position in the instrument industry.

In 2011, Thermo experienced strong demand for MS and HPLC systems, as well as higher sales of reagents and PCR consumables within the BioScience business. The company’s purchase of Dionex on May 16, 2011 (see IBO 12/15/10), strengthened its HPLC product line and augmented its business in environmental, food-testing and petrochemical end-markets. With over half of a year of integration, Dionex added roughly $300 million in HPLC and ion chromatography product-related sales to revenues in CY 2011. Thermo’s focus on emerging markets, particularly China, Korea, India and Brazil, also produced strong results, as the company recorded more than 20% growth in China in 2011.

In CY 2011, Agilent surpassed Life Technologies to take the number 2 spot on the top 30 list due to a full year of sales from the acquired Varian business (see IBO 7/31/09). The Varian purchase added new product lines and expanded Agilent’s installed base. Agilent also recorded in CY 2011 strong sales of GC/MS and LC/MS products to food, environmental and energy customers in emerging markets. In CY 2011, Life Technologies experienced strong demand for its Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine Sequencers, but was negatively impacted by lower US academic spending.

Danaher climbed one spot on the top 30 list to number 4, rounding out the companies on the list with more than $2 billion in analytical and life science instrument and aftermarket sales. The company recorded the largest nominal increase in instrument sales in CY 2011, adding $680 million in revenues, which included just over six months of revenues from Beckman Coulter (see IBO 2/15/11). Danaher also reported strong revenue growth for its AB SCIEX business due to increased demand for the TripleTOF 5600 from biopharmaceutical, proteomics and food safety customers, especially in emerging markets. Sales of confocal microscopes by the Leica Microsystems business were particularly strong in China. On a pro forma basis, CY 2011 Danaher life science instrument and aftermarket revenue were roughly $2.4 billion.

Acquisitions also elevated sales and rankings for Bruker, Merck KGaA and PerkinElmer, which each recorded analytical and life science instrument and aftermarket sales of more than $1 billion in CY 2011. Bruker climbed two spots to number 6 on the top 30 list. The company recorded more than 40% growth in sales for its NanoSurface business, which included a full year of revenue from the acquired Veeco Instruments product lines (see IBO 8/31/10). Other areas of strength included X-ray spectroscopy, MS and molecular spectroscopy products.

Merck KGaA jumped four positions to number 9 on the CY 2011 top 30 list, as the company recorded a full year of Millipore sales (see IBO 2/28/10). PerkinElmer’s sales benefited from the acquisitions of Caliper Life Sciences (see IBO 9/15/11) and other three informatics companies, as well as higher demand for laboratory services as well as atomic spectroscopy and life science consumable products.

Other companies with strong organic revenue growth and more than $1 billion in sales in CY 2011 were Waters and Illumina. Much like Agilent, Waters recorded strong sales of HPLC and MS products due to demand from food, industrial, environmental and pharmaceutical customers in emerging markets. Illumina, which experienced a significant slowdown in sales growth in the second half of the year, still managed to grow revenues by 17% in CY 2011 to reach over $1 billion in sales for the first time.

Other notable changes in rankings included the drop for Beckman Coulter from number 14 to number 28 on the top 30 list because less than half of the stand-alone company’s CY 2011 sales was counted due to its acquisition by Danaher. QIAGEN slipped three positions to number 18 following a recalculation of the company’s molecular diagnostic business and acquisitions in that market. Conversely, FEI jumped five positions to number 25 due to robust sales of high-end transmission electron microscopes for research customers and the timing of orders.

New to the top 30 list in CY 2011 were HORIBA and Oxford Instruments, joining the list at number 20 and number 30, respectively. They replace Dionex and Affymetrix. HORIBA experienced strong demand for stack gas analyzers and radiation measurement equipment in Japan (see page 11). Oxford Instruments benefited from higher atomic spectroscopy sales to the metals and petroleum markets, as well as increased research-related funding for alternative energy. Affymetrix fell off the list due to declining sales.

 The Top 30 Analytical and Life Science Instrument Companies of 2011

 Rank Company                    CY Rev. ($B)

 1    Thermo Fisher Scientific   4.04

 2    Agilent Technologies       3.25

 3    Life Technologies          2.75

 4    Danaher                    2.13

 5    Waters                     1.85

 6    Bruker                     1.55

 7    Shimadzu                   1.53

 8    PerkinElmer                1.40

 9    Merck KGaA                 1.17

 10   GE                         1.12

 11   Becton Dickinson           1.08

 12   Illumina                   1.02

 13   Sigma-Aldrich              0.96

 14   Mettler-Toledo             0.95

 15   Hitachi High-Technologies  0.85

 16   Roche                      0.74

 17   JEOL                       0.71

 18   QIAGEN                     0.63

 19   Bio-Rad Laboratories       0.62

 20   Carl Zeiss                 0.59

 21   Nikon                      0.58

 22   Olympus                    0.56

 23   Eppendorf                  0.56

 24   Spectris                   0.54

 25   FEI Company                0.45

 26   AMETEK                     0.42

 27   Tecan                      0.40

 28   Beckman Coulter            0.40

 29   HORIBA                     0.35

 30   Oxford Instruments         0.32

 Pie Chart: Top 30 Revenue Share by Ranking CY 2011

   #1–#5  42%

  #6–#10  20%

 #11–#15  14%

 #16–#20  10%

 #26–#30   6%